Lib at Large: Isaak drummer Kenney Dale Johnson's day in the Sun

KENNEY DALE JOHNSON, longtime drummer for Chris Isaak, called the other day all excited about the new album the band recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn., one of the birthplaces of rock 'n' roll.

"That was the most fun I've ever had making a record," said the San Rafael resident. "I looked around as we were playing and thought, Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm here. We had a ball."

That's what impresses me about Kenney. He's been with Isaak for more than 25 years, and in other rock bands before that, but he hasn't become jaded. Far from it.

He and his buddy Isaak are self-described "music geeks." They grew up (Kenney in Texas, Isaak in Stockton) listening to early rock records by Elvis and Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis and the other future classics that were recorded by Sam Phillips at Sun.

"We were both influenced by those records," Kenney said in his personable Lone Star drawl. "All those great songs were made right there in that little room."

Aptly titled "Beyond the Sun," the album was released this week on Vanguard, the band's new label. The concept arose while they were on tour a year ago. Passing through the South, they made a pilgrimage to Sun, one of rock's holy shrines, and were invited to jam using the studio's instruments.

"We had no intention of recording there when we went, but after we jammed all night, Chris goes, 'Why don't we make a record of Sun cover songs?'" Kenney recalled. When no one could think of any reason whey they shouldn't, they forged ahead.

"Half the battle was figuring out which ones we were going to do."

They ended up recording 36 tunes in 11 days, selecting a dozen for the album, a mixture of the familiar and the obscure, including Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," Jerry Lee's "Great Balls of Fire," Carl Perkins' little-known rave-up "Dixie Fried" and a delightful rarity called "Miss Pearl" by a cat named Johnny Wages, whom Isaak discovered one night on YouTube.

"You can really hear the room in some of those songs," Kenney said. "I'm pretty darn happy with them."

Since 2003, Sun has been a National Historic Landmark and a popular tourist attraction, which made for some unusual recording conditions.

"We had to wait until the last tour at 4:30 or 5 in the afternoon before we could start," Kenney remembered. "When we were done, we'd push our gear over to the side so the tour groups could get through the next day. It was kind of like guerrilla recording."

If the songs on "Beyond the Sun" have an authenticity that you don't always find on covers of 1950s rock, it's not just because Isaak famously looks and sounds a lot like Elvis and has the high notes of Roy Orbison. The band recorded live, without headphones, using stand-up bass and a barely in tune upright piano with a cigar burn on the keys, courtesy of Jerry Lee Lewis. And they didn't just go in and play. They studied the form first.

"Everyone schooled themselves on how to approach this music correctly," Kenney explained. "I thought I knew this material, but the drummers on those records were informed by the styles of the 1940s, so they didn't have any traditional rock beats to draw from. I'm informed by the '60s. Everyone from Led Zeppelin to James Brown influenced my playing. So those guys would do stuff that would never occur to me because I come from a different era. Learning that made it fun. It's not what we usually do."

While they were recording in Memphis, they were honored by a visit from Rockabilly Hall of Famer Cowboy Jack Clement, who produced Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, among others. And they were awestruck when Roland Janes, Jerry Lee's guitar player, dropped by.

"He was wonderful," Kenney said. "He's a living legend to us. During the day, we'd roam around Memphis, looking at the Mississippi. Beale Street is still there. You might argue that it's been touristed up a bit, but that's where everyone from B.B. King to Howlin' Wolf came to earn their fortune. They walked those streets. There's a lot of history in Memphis."